Every day I'm more and more impressed with the potential of what BBM could become.

However, if BlackBerry wants to encourage people to post.. maybe they should start by updating their 'the BBM channel' or 'verified channels' more often. Right now their BBM channel has more followers than the BBM Twitter page. Use it wisely! Also, I mostly add verified channels because they're generally more interesting / trustworthy but right now the dedicated channel for verified channels is only showing a few. And I'm sure there are plenty of others. Either update the channel or get rid of it.

On a different note: I'm glad they're doing small updates to the BlackBerry homepage. I found myself browsing through their website a few months back wondering if they could've made it any more confusing / outdated. I personally like their biz blog, which should have a more central role in the future I hope.

I know, way off topic. But how could you possibly run a business nowadays with a website that only confuses clients

Posted via CB10

My biggest wish for BB Channels is to Blacklist the GD Spammers. It is unbelievable!

Only with the agreement of the Canadian government, which opens up a whole new can of worms.

You can't initiate a random hostile takeover in Canada by a foreign power. Especially since the company in question is deeply involved in national security.

Anyone who thinks Apple or Microsoft could have just waltzed in an bought BBRY for a song is living in a dream world that doesn't reflect the reality of the situation at all. The Canadian financial regulatory system staved off the worst effects of the Great Depression, the Market Crash of 2008 and a number of other failures of the American financial system by having tighter regulations that prevent companies from doing the kinds of things you seem to believe they're capable of doing.

It's publically traded company. If Apple or MS had offered $20 a share how would the Board have rejected that? Would the Canadian gov't blocked a sale to Apple or MS? I have a hard time seeing that happen. Lenovo absolutely, but blocking a sale from a large Canadian company to a large US company might have had serious trade and political implications. Same for selling a US corp to a Canadian corp. There is a big difference, especially in political terms between agreeing with something v actually opposing and blocking something. They probably wouldn't have been happy about it, but blocking a sale of a faultering BBRY to Apple or MS is almost unthinkable.

Somewhat OT but this map gives the relative importance of Internet penetration and probable total smartphone use around the globe, originating from an Oxford Internet Institute study. The attached French article quoting the source, giving interesting comments when comparing the use between certain countries. Noting population deforming the relative size of each country...

Yes, BlackBerry's crash coincided the 2008 market crash, but it also coincided with the passing of new amendments to the FISA act, which directly related to foreign communications entering and leaving America.

Ten years from now they'll probably attributing large portions of the crash to American companies freaking out that their tax evading actions would suddenly come under scrutiny by the government who was recording all their conversations with foreign institutions they were using to hide their revenue.

Blackberry crashed when companies in 2008 stopped updating their phones every year. They also started to listen to their employees who told them they wanted nicer, more up to date hardware that Blackberry was just plain not providing.

Americans are not Allowed to Use BlackBerry. Do you not get it? Working class slaves will not enjoy the privilege of security or privacy. Only the elite will be able to use BlackBerry made phones. Why else would the rich and powerful only use BlackBerry?

Posted via CB10

I am neither rich nor powerful. I am as American - in the way we in the United States use the term as our own even thought it is not - as anyone who posts here semi regularly. 2 weeks ago I went into a Verizon store and ordered a Z30 which arrived at my house the next day. No one argued with me - they just took my money and set up the account, they seemed very happy to do that.

I know it's very hard to understand how BlackBerry has just lost completely the minds of the American consumer as a whole but that is where BlackBerry's problem lies here. Those who want them can get them very easily - I have had a BlackBerry phone on Nextel, AT&T and now Verizon since 2004 (the venerable 7520). No one I know goes to the store with BlackBerry on their minds and most likely does not consider BlackBerry at all competitive with iOS and Android flagships. BlackBerry has done absolutely nothing here to change that meme and so it continues to this day. The last thing of any consequence BlackBerry themselves did here in the USA was that Super Bowl commerical. Very little else that would be noticed by "Joe the Plumber".

Sorry this is on BlackBerry at this point. Chen has the way back right it starts with Enterprise and works it way back out again - that's how it happened the first time. The folks in the regulated industries still have some mind about what a BlackBerry is and what it means for them and so they "get it" literally and figuratively. Everyone else, not so much.

It's publically traded company. If Apple or MS had offered $20 a share how would the Board have rejected that? Would the Canadian gov't blocked a sale to Apple or MS? I have a hard time seeing that happen. Lenovo absolutely, but blocking a sale from a large Canadian company to a large US company might have had serious trade and political implications. Same for selling a US corp to a Canadian corp. There is a big difference, especially in political terms between agreeing with something v actually opposing and blocking something. They probably wouldn't have been happy about it, but blocking a sale of a faultering BBRY to Apple or MS is almost unthinkable.

JMHO..... interesting hypothetical though.

The Canadian government has already demonstrated it will block sales of Canadian companies to foreign interests if there isn't a net benefit to Canadians. It's not that our corporations are less greedy, we've just got more oversight, plain and simple. Talk all you want about how the board would have viewed selling their company for a 7th of its market cap from 5 years ago, it never would have happened. And if there was an offer on the table that was rejected by the government, yes, it would have sent the market into turmoil. Mainly because you'd be wondering why Apple and MS think the company is worth so much if the market is expecting it to crash and burn.

Of course, you could just keep believing that your money can buy whatever it wants. But you're still living in a dream world.

Originally Posted by greggebhardt

Blackberry crashed when companies in 2008 stopped updating their phones every year. They also started to listen to their employees who told them they wanted nicer, more up to date hardware that Blackberry was just plain not providing.

BlackBerry continued to grow their subscriber base and continued to show record profits during the period in 2008 when it had it's largest fall.

But hey, what do actual historical quarterly earnings mean in the face of your opinions of what happened?

Good luck. I'm really curious as to how it opens tomorrow. Both the patterns I was watching broke to the downside but the horizontal support held.... barely. Could definitely use something positive before open.

Yeah, not certain of direction, that's why only a small position. Will add if it cycles down, will sell half on pop.

Originally Posted by cjcampbell

Good luck. I'm really curious as to how it opens tomorrow. Both the patterns I was watching broke to the downside but the horizontal support held.... barely. Could definitely use something positive before open.

The Canadian government has already demonstrated it will block sales of Canadian companies to foreign interests if there isn't a net benefit to Canadians. It's not that our corporations are less greedy, we've just got more oversight, plain and simple. Talk all you want about how the board would have viewed selling their company for a 7th of its market cap from 5 years ago, it never would have happened. And if there was an offer on the table that was rejected by the government, yes, it would have sent the market into turmoil. Mainly because you'd be wondering why Apple and MS think the company is worth so much if the market is expecting it to crash and burn.

Of course, you could just keep believing that your money can buy whatever it wants. But you're still living in a dream world.

BlackBerry continued to grow their subscriber base and continued to show record profits during the period in 2008 when it had it's largest fall.

But hey, what do actual historical quarterly earnings mean in the face of your opinions of what happened?

I think it would be fair to say the Canadian government rarely blocks anything as it should be. 4-5 times over 25 years is not a great track record of interfering with capital markets and deals. We can debate the hypotheticals forever. I never said money can buy it all, all I said was Apple or MS money could have bought struggling BBRY for the right price. Combination of timing, price, the companies and technology involved and politics. My opinion is that there is no way they would have blocked it, you think I am naive, and am living in a "dream world" so be it. I think you don't appreciate how finance and corporate and US-Canada relations and politics work. Snubbing Apple or MS would be a serious breach of the great relationship and trust our countries have and I don''t think your government would have spent the political capital necessary block it. We will never know.